iPads are expected to repalce textbooks in near future.

1. Analysis & Outlook
Apple iPad in Higher Education in Universities – Adoption to rise
Apple designed iPad primarily as audio-video media device that is best suited for
content such as movies, music, games, apps, books, periodicals and web content.
Universities in United States had adopted iPad as an e-reader and provided the device
to the faculty and students on a trial basis despite the fact that iPad did not have
textbooks in electronic format in its iBooks application. But there were thousands of
education related apps that increased the iPad adoption in universities and Apple in
January 2012 announced the up gradation of its iBooks Application, a new iPad
textbook experience and iBooks authoring tool which will enhance the adoption of
technology in classrooms. Apple focus, it seems more towards the school education
system and its initial textbooks offering are school textbooks by Pearson and McGraw-
Hill that focus on basic algebra, biology, chemistry, geometry and environmental
science and sell them for not more than US$15. Apple launched a new version of
iTunes U which was initially launched in 2007 to manage, distribute, and control access
to educational content (Audio & Video) and PDF files for students within a college or
university as well as the Internet. Another application called iBooks Author was
launched that allows faculty and students to create and distribute their own digital text
books. This application will help Apple overcome its biggest handicap which is non
availability of digital content like textbooks, reference books, fiction and non fiction
books from various publishers on its bookstore as the application allows students and
teachers create their own content easily and distribute it. Universities, Students,
Governments and other stakeholders are looking to increase the adoption of e-readers
like iPad, Kindle, Nook, etc as this will improve the teaching and learning and also
reduce the education costs for them as they see significant savings in using the e-
readers and replace them with textbooks on which billions of dollars are spent.
Apple exclusive Education Event in January 2012 was a serious effort by the company
to strengthen its presence in the education particularly in schools segment and
announced that there are close to two million iPads already being used in education in
schools and universities across United States. Apple is looking at education sector to
drive volumes along with the business segment and its focus on education is
strengthened by a Pearson Foundation survey according to which close to 50% of
college students believe that tablets will take the place of paper textbooks by 2016 and
the US Government recently suggested school systems nationwide to replace textbooks
with e-readers, like iPads, Kindles and Nooks. Apple iPads initially had the reputation
of being a convenient mobile platform for communication, productivity, and gaming
and was not considered a good reading device for the students to use in the classroom
environment, but application developers have created applications that attracted the
students and faculty to use the device in the classrooms. The fact is that teachers and
students together made iPad as an e-reader device useful in the classrooms and forced
Apple to develop further apps and tie up with textbook publishers and other book
publishers to increase the availability of more books on their bookstore. Other
prominent e-readers like Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook have significant
digital content like textbooks and other reference books, fiction and non fiction from
various publishers available on their respective stores.
Rajesh Prabhakar Analyst Bio @ http://analysiscasestudy.blogspot.com

2. Analysis & Outlook
Some of the Universities like Pepperdine University, Reed College, University of Notre
Dame, etc in United States had been experimenting with iPads in the classrooms for the
past two years on trial basis where faculty and students are provided with the device
and encourage their usage in the classrooms and studied their usage. Results from such
studies highlight the fact that iPad is a good device for both students and faculty to
prepare for the class, search and refer to various sources of information easily and the
audio video capability helps in recording and playing course content in the classroom
and enhance the learning experience in the classrooms. Both faculty and students felt
that iPad is not only good e-reader but also a good device to search for information,
collate and share it with others easily and the device is easy to carry easily. The
availability of thousands of Applications that are both free and paid have also enhanced
the usage of iPad in the classrooms as the applications allow note taking, sharing notes,
checking references and make charts, graphs and diagrams easily. The ability to use
more audio and videos in the classrooms have helped the students learn easily and
teachers teach easily as proven by earlier studies and iPad is the best device for
creating, storing and distributing podcasts (Audio & Video). Most of the studies at
various universities also highlighted a crucial fact that both students and teachers
preferred usage of iPad and felt it as the best device when compared to laptops.
University Professors and students are skeptical about iPad in the classrooms as there
are many constraints like the lack of availability of digital textbooks in the electronic
format available on Apple Bookstore, majority of publishers predominantly textbook
and other book publishers are not on board and Apple is still in talks with them, the
availability of properly formatted books best suitable for the device as most of the
electronic versions of the books are just PDFs, Apple’s tight control of its ecosystem as
interaction between devices other than iPad is not possible, lack of access to other big
books stores like Barnes & Noble and Amazon and the cost of iPad is very high when
compared to other e-readers available in the market like Kindle and Nook. Apple tight
control and pricing of the device and content had always been an issue. Students and
faculty need to share and collaborate with one another in the classroom as part of the
learning process and in order to that using iPad, all of them must only use only Apple
iPad and it cannot be integrated with other e-readers. So everybody must buy iPad
despite it being a costly device and some of the students may not be able to buy the
device which will increase the digital divide. Students too are generally excited about
iPad as a communication and entertainment device but are not completely convinced
about its utility in the classrooms as a reading device. They want functionality that
allows them to take notes, refer to other sources, annotate and highlight the important
points and share the notes with other students and teachers.
Professors are also facing problems in adopting iPads as the device needs to be
integrated with their teaching style and they should believe that the device increases
their teaching efficiency and helps students to understand the topic. They have to be
provided the necessary training in regards to the device and about the various
applications that help them in teaching. Since there are thousands of applications
available on the App store both the professors and students should together decide on
the applications that are needed. The availability of the digital content in terms of the
course materials, textbooks on the bookstore and the accessibility and pricing of such
content is another area of concern as professors in the universities decide the course
Rajesh Prabhakar Analyst Bio @ http://analysiscasestudy.blogspot.com

3. Analysis & Outlook
content and what books are to be read as part of the course curriculum. There is
significant amount of functionality in the iPad and professors and students should be
both convenient and be able to use the device in the classroom environment. There was
an initial apprehension about the utility of iPad in the classrooms as nobody knew what
will be the impact unlike the laptops that carried a reputation of remarkable
productivity tools even before they entered classrooms. In iPad context faculty and
students tried to give the device a utility and context with the learning and teaching
environment and provide the necessary feedback to Apple so that they can overcome
the shortcomings and make iPad a compulsory device in the classrooms. There is also
significant amount investment to be made in terms of buying iPads, upgrading the
library infrastructure and upgrading the technology infrastructure so that the devices
can be best used and the cost is still higher for many universities and schools to adopt
despite seeing significant benefits from such adoption.
Apple has improved iPad design and functionality for its usage in the education and the
various initiatives like the improved iBooks, iTunes U, iBooks Author, more textbooks
in bookstore and education related applications in the store. The focus towards the
education by Apple is definitely invited by the students, teachers, governments and
other stakeholders in the textbooks market and it is actively negotiating with publishers
to increase the digital content in its store. Apple is already having backing from the best
universities in the world like Harvard, Stanford, etc as is evident by the availability of
various courses from these universities in iTunes U even prior to the app launch on
iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone. According to a 2011 Pearson Foundation survey, 70% of
college students and college-bound high school seniors are interested in buying a tablet
device, and 20% expect to purchase a tablet within the next few months. The drop in
price of the older model of iPad after the launch of the newer version will also drive the
sales of iPads and students will be definitely attracted to buy despite the fact that the
iPad is still costlier compared to other e-readers in the market. Apple has to increase the
digital content particularly the textbooks and other reference books availability in the
bookstore at affordable prices, more functionality to the device that makes its usage
easy, more applications that allow the note taking, sharing and communicating between
the devices easy and the reading experience on iPad close to the normal printed
textbooks. Governments, Universities and Schools need affordability in purchasing of
iPad, applications and content and they should be able to easily distribute them to the
students and then only textbooks can be replaced with tablets.
2010-2015 Tablet Market Share and iPad Market Share Projections
Sour
ce: TrendForce, WitsView
Total tablets projected include all tablets and color e-readers.
Rajesh Prabhakar Analyst Bio @ http://analysiscasestudy.blogspot.com